Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-03-12
FHB NlViL DESIGNS
Secretary Whitney Tells
How He Purchased
Designs
The Eccentric Denmeads Are
Said to Have Starved.
The Interstate Commerce
Law VIII Effect Cana
dian Business.
The Great Deal Declared OR-FaIIure Of
Wheat Dealer-Strike Becoming
Serioas-Armour VIII Not
Bald the Cotton Seed
Oh Mills.
Secretary whismey sa Naval De.lens,

Oh Mills.
Secretary whitney en- Naval Deaigns
WAsHINoToN, March 1l.-Secresar,
Whitney today furnished q Statement
toaching the method employed by thI
Navy Department 10 procure plsna fol
naval vessels and machinery. In re
gard to the reported discharge o.
draughtsnsn Ferry at the Chatham
oockyard in England, he says there Il
no truth IN any statement which con
meets the Navy Department with any.
thing clandestine 10 the way Of obtain.
ing plans abroad, or the secrets OF
foreign governments. IL is the business
of every government 10 know what i'm
plements Of war are possessed by
others, together with their characteris-
tics and information can easily be OBJ.
tanned II necessary. Relative to the
purchase by the Department Of the de.
signs made By Chief Constructor
White of the Ems lish admiralty, Sscre.
tary whitney says that White was not
chief constructor Of the admiralty
when be made and the Department puE-
chased the designs. He was then In
the employ of Sir William Armstrong 4
TIE Secretary quoted from Secretary
Chandler's annual report hiRA csm-
mendatien Of the nrm, and then pro-
ceeded ss follows: "After the construc
tion of the Esmeralda they built the
Naniwa Kan for the JapaRess govern
ment, which is an improved EsmeFaIda,
and on her trial she was reported TO
have made nearly nineteen knots, the
highest speed then reached by anV un
armed cruiser. ] decided to purchase
the working drawings of this ship and
her machinery for the purpose of plac-
ing them at the disposal of oar naval
to see by what method they
so mach greater speed over
there than we we're able to reach here.
While the matter was negotiated
h Co. through their aFchi-
tect, Mr.. White, made a still later de
sign which 10 called "No. "a" which
they offered in competition to the Span
lsh Government, for which they guar
anteed either 19 or 1871 knots speed.
This design was not rejected by the
Spanish Government, although In the
IL did not win. The Thomp-
IONS haviR0 agreed to guarantee %
knots speed upon q boat Of larger dis
were given the contract and
are now building the boat for the span
sh Government.
The boat which the Thompsens pro-
posed 10 build for the Spanish Govern
nent was cot Of the question for Us,
because il Was too large in tonnage and
loo expensive to eeme within the limits
dxed by the statutes, and sheuld not
have bought plans Of that boat at the
'ame prices they we're offered TO us at
$50,000l. which offer | rejected.
preferred the design of Armstrong, and
Mr.. White and / finally closed con-
iract for the plans Of the two boats,
Saniwa Kan and what ia known a.
No. g." for SIS, 600 less than it would
have cost TO make them with our
men, think. 1t was for the
purpose Of laying before our people
The very latest improvements in the way
of fast cruisers by the concern sup
posed to be the best constructors in the
world among private ship builders Of
this class Of boats. The machinery of
The Naniwa Kan was designed by Hav.
that of No. % was designed by
Messrs. Humphreys 4 Tennant. both
as concerns ranking with the
highest in England In the way Of ma
rine machinery. After these plans had
been received here was frequently ap-
piled to by our ship builders TO let them
have copies. Il was the fret time that
working drawings had been had
aa an entire ship, and il then ocsuTred to
AAk ri -
plan TO reproduce the machinery of
these two vessels in two of the five ships
that We were about to build, aud this
course was earnestly urged upon ms by
ship builders who examiRed the plans.
A letter has been written to me TO that
effect by Rosch's expert. Mr.. Fsrron, by
the Harlan 4 HollinRsworth Company
and the Unien Works of San Francisco.
This was the course finally adopted by
me. Many of the arrangements have
been changed conforming them to our
types, but machinery will be Duplicated
10 tWo Of those that are aow under con
tract. The effect has been, in my jndR-
ment, 10 call the attention Of our peo-
pie to the fact that we have not kept
up to 4 proper standard in the way of
powerful machinery.
u the case of the Boston and the At
lanta the guarantee Of the contractor 10
that With ga tons Of machinery, be will
produce $500 horse power. The guar
antee of the contractor who is pro
dueine the Niniwa Kan machinery is
that with 72l tons he will produce 1000
horse power, and in the case of cruiser
No. 2. also foreign machinery, the
Ruaran' ee is that 1900 good hoFss power
shall be produced. IL will be seen that
the effectiveness of the machinery IN
producing horse power IL twice that re
quired by the contract upon the Boston
and Atlanta In these latter esses one ton
OF machinery ~ guaranteed 20 produce a
little over i've horse power aHd IN the
cases of cruisers No. aud No. 3 ton
IS guaranteed to produce nearly 10 horse
power. All this, it Eili be seen, 10 stim
alatiB9 to our own people 60 the end
thai they will probably saoceed in doing
AZ well, or better than these results
shew.r
Ths Secretary characterized q men
tioH of persons referred TO IN the Law
as engineers and mechanics OF sstab-
hshed reputation and ali reputable man
ufsct1rers of vessels, steam engines,
boilers and 50 on, and lad ne reference
whatev TO any naval of5cers aboard.
IL would have been, OF course, absurd
30 publish such q thing II that had been
the intention Of the advertisement Of
one which bad be q inserted bafoFs and
whioh wss In accordance With the
statute.
The Denmeads were starved.
NEW BRUNSWICK n J }, March H.
The result of toe post Btorssna examina-
tisu over the bodies of Robert aud Cor
deliA Dcnmead Ahowed that the
woman's lungs we're in . normal ooEdi
ton. and her death vas not e4ased by
pneumonia The stomach showed that
the woman Gas starved 10 death. Mrs.
Dsnmead bad besn dsAd for At least
too months. Robert Dsnmeaa's body
was RAnnf and shriyslsd- 1hs IunEs
and AeArt we're deeomposed. fke in
testines and stomach we're empty. HIS
death was also eanse3 by starvation.
The ssomachs Of both Robert and Mrs
Denmead viii be examined for traces
OF potsOB.
WIII AIss AHeea CaaAaian Kasine4a.
MoxTKKAL. March il.-IEAfse Mana
n a.. 81